As a sports lover and competitor, I simply cannot abide poor sportsmanship. You get beat, you get beat. Shake your opponent’s hand, dust yourself off and be better next time. Now, poor sportsmanship is one thing, an amateur wrestler sucker punching his opponent because he couldn’t deal with losing. It isn’t just repulsive, it’s criminal.
This occurred recently in Des Plaines, Illinois. Hafid Alicea (Maine West HS) got royally whipped in his wrestling match by Cooper Corder (SPAR Wrestling Academy), losing 14-2. Things then took a dark and disgusting turn. Alicea fakes a post-match handshake and floors Corder with one of the most heinous sucker punches of all time.
My first reaction was OMG, how did Corder’s parents keep from killing this kid (that would have been my first impulse, I’m sure)? My second was look, I get this is a kid, but you HAVE to get the authorities involved. This cannot just be handled with punishment from the school (which HAS to come too, btw). Legal action HAS been taken.
According to TMZ, The Oak Park Police Dept. officially issued Alicea, a 14-year-old eighth grader, a citation on Thursday. The boy freely admitted to officers he punched his counterpart because “he was angry that he had lost the match.” Hafid Alicea now faces fines and penalties to be determinded in a hearing next month in Oak Park, Illinois.
The good news is that as bad as the sucker punch attack looked, Cooper Corder only suffered a bloody nose and declined any further medical attention. So, in other words, he’s fine.
These Are The 25 Best High Schools For Athletes In North Carolina
Choosing the right school for your child can feel like the most important decision in the world. It’s a factor in where you purchase a home. Should you shell out the big bucks for private school education? How can you set your child up for success? So many parents stress about these decisions for years and years. And when your child is an athlete, regardless of it they are looking to play in college, that makes the decision that much harder. If your child has the potential to be a college athlete and potentially get a scholarship, you want to make sure they are in the best place possible to develop their skills and get noticed. Even if they are in it for fun, you still want them to have good coaches, and facilities and winning is nice too! How do you know the best High Schools for athletes in the state of North Carolina? Of course, you can look at the success of a specific team or program. State championships and players signed to college programs are certainly a reflection.
But we want to help you narrow it down. And Niche.com is here to help with rankings of schools and universities across the country. They recently released their 2023 rankings of schools. This includes K-12 as well as higher education. You can play around with the filters and view the rankings based on a variety of factors. One of those is a listing of the best high schools in for athletes in North Carolina. Which schools topped the list? Let’s find out.
For this list, we are including public, private, and charter schools. And the overwhelming majority are actually public schools! Though the top 2 are private with one being in Charlotte. But where did these rankings come from you may ask? According to Niche:
Explore the best high school sports programs based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking based on student and parent reviews of athletics, number of state championships, student participation in athletics, and the number of sports offered at the school. Compare the best high school sports programs in your area. Read more on how this ranking was calculated.
If you’re looking for the best school to send your athlete to hopefully this list will help you narrow it down. These are the 25 best schools in North Carolina for athletes.
